The Lady of the Lake
The Lady of the Lake is a figure from the Arthurian Myth, but in the Source Land Setting, she is also a mysterious deity who is remembered as the Bride of Septimus Mithlander and known among Cosmonites and who worship the Divine Light to be a powerful malevolent demon. The Myth It was long before the dawn of mankind that Helios shone on the world in anger, for he had been defied. A drought so terrible that it threatened to run the seas dry had left the Fay-Kind desperate. Refusing to die of thirst, a Princess of the Fay gathered up her People and they went on a pilgrimage to The True-Water Lake, a sacred water-body said to be a gateway to the realm of water, and she stood before the lake and summoned forth the Lord of the Waves - a terror of whom shall not be spoken. She pledged her people to his service if he would agree to return the water to the worlds, and with that, her people became the Nymphs - but Helios saw this and was furious, and he shone with such brightness upon the lake that he fractured The Wave-Lord's domain, separating within the True-Water Lake, the domain of sweet-water and the Fay-Kind fled into the waters in horror as they were overcome with the fury of their Lord Helios, but She alone stood her ground and looked upon him through the reflection of the lake, unmoved and unbowed by his fury. In that moment, her determination and beauty compelled Helios to remember that he had created these beings, and he granted her the domain of Sweet-Water for her courage, and with that, she had made Helios himself perform the first act of Chivalry - saving her people from enslavement. The History The Myth is actually only somewhat romanticized. Supposedly, The Lady was a Dragon-Whisperer (an elf with Dragon Heritage), and she seemingly sacrificed her entire people, condemning them to become Nymphs, in order for her to ascend to god-hood, having played the greed of The Wave-Lord against himself, causing Helios wrath to come down upon him - though it is entirely possible that she simply made a legitimate bargain with the Wave-Lord (not to be mistaken for Luna, the actual Goddess of the Sea). Either way, it appears that there was a very serious drought that did occur during this time, so the Myth may entirely be correct. Personality Depicted as a beautiful regal woman, enticing and sensual, it is only a fool who sees the Lady as such, she is a predator who thrives on the devotion and desire of her cult, and lives for the bloodshed they perform in her honor. Many a Knight has claimed that The Lady appeared before them, with a Sword "With this symbol - conquer" she would bid them, and so they did - or they died trying. A fickle mistress, she is a patron of those men who fight for women, and for those women who would have men fight for them, and as such she is a powerful symbol within the Imperial Faith, because she embodies the very driving concept behind Imperial Gender Roles, namely that Women are "the People", and men are the Guardians of the People. Without a Woman, a man has no purpose to exist, and without a man a Woman will not exist for long - a deeply sexist school of thought, and also largely correct during the course of the majority of Imperial History. Variants The lady is an important figure in Nordmar, but she goes under a different name. They say that her name is Jotrund, and that she is the Otherworldly Bride of Ogrund, the Dragon-King - their highest deity. Many have claimed that Ogrund must be Septimus, and most Nordmarians agree, but laugh when claims are made toward his death. In Nordmarian Mythology, Ogrund and his Bride could only be together when the moon was New, as Ogrund had been forced to imprison Jotrund in the seas to protect her from his enemy, Hrakaras - The Darkness. When the moonlight shone on the waters, he could see her reflection through the water, but when the New Moon snuffed out all light, Ogrund himself would ride through the skies (Northern Light), to safeguard his Lady against Hrakaras. Commandments The Lady has given many orders in the past. Generally, hers is the code of Chivalry. Much more interesting are the many exceptions she has made, making it obvious that the Lady is not in any way a fictional entity, but actually some sort of extremely powerful being. * On numerous accounts, the Lady has intervened directly in a man's life, in order to steer him unto a path of violence to claim the hand of a woman, avenge a woman or defend a woman, frequently leading to the death of this man. * The first Holy Knights from the Imperial Lands who joined the Crusade did so because the Lady commanded them. The Grail Knights are a small order of Knights devoted to Her Lady, and their records indicate that at one point, a voice screamed from the very moats of their castles as the water rippled, commanding them to invade the enemy's lands and slay them until the rivers ran red - it wasn't just a call to war, but a call for the total extermination of their people - this was incidentally shortly after the Empire worked hard to suppress rumors that Septimus Mithlander had supposedly fallen in battle. * While extremely dangerous, some say that it is possible to gain the Lady's favor by slaying accursed monsters that nest in bogs and near lakes in the Marshes, where the Source still corrupts the land. * If a man has dishonored himself, the Lady might forgive him if he throws his weapons and armor into a Lake. They say that if manages to redeem himself by living a humble and earnest life, she may recall him into her service by sending him back his armor and weapons. Some have, in jest, suggested that this is just her duping people into giving her weapons and armor, as she must need quite a stockpile to keep handing swords out. * If a man believes he has lived his entire life with honor, and he is a widow (or his Wife takes the vows), he can go into the mist on a Lake. If he truly was honorable, he will disappear into the mist, but somewhere else, he will emerge as part of the Lady's Honor-Guard. If unworthy, he will simply drown, but if outright dishonorable, he will return as a Drowner. * On occasion, the Lady champions a cause - sources claim she has demanded some very specific and graphic responses to certain slights. If a Lady she favors has been sullied undue, the Lady might call upon a worthy Champion and have him color the waters of the nearest Lake with the blood of the offender - the wronged Lady can then reclaim her maidenhood by bathing in the blood of her offender. Curiously, a reputed Scholar claims that this method actually works, and the reason why there are no records of any restored maidenhoods is because the ritual literally makes it as if the crime never occurred, but that the rapist was slain in the attempt, and only those with magical abilities will be able to remember otherwise. * If a woman commits suicide in a Lady's Lake, it can have serious consequences. If her reason for seeking death was noble, it can unleash one of the most powerful effects - the summoning of The Wild Hunt that will purge those who caused the circumstances. * If a young couple consummate their marriage in a Lake, it is said that the first born will always be a son, but he will be doomed to die fighting for love. * There are numerous other rumors and rituals affiliated with The Lady, but the gist is that she is as much about nobility and honor as she is about death. Nothing pleases the Lady more than death dealt in her name. Mothers, Daughters, Wives, Chivalry and Blood The Lady is a patron of all women who live noble lives. Married women who stay true to their virtues, maidens who remain pure and unsullied and widows who fight like she-wolves, for what remains of their packs. But she is also the patron of those men who protect those that she stand for, and they are perhaps the ones most likely to receive her boon. Chivalry The Lady favors men who fight for honor, for the virtue instilled in them by their mothers, for the honor of their sisters and daughters and especially for their brides or simply for women they decide to champion. They say that a man can fight anything if he fights for the love and honor of the women in his life. On fighting women The Lady prefers a woman who rallies her suitors, sons and brothers to fight for her honor, but does not condemn it when a woman rises to power, be it political or martial. History speaks of a few empowered women who claim to have had the boon of the Lady, and these Queens and Lady-Knights are largely revered by members of her cult, to the point where some of them have obtained pseudo saint-hood with it still being a matter of debate whether or not they actually are Saints.